Category: Shuls

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Stellenbosch 2019

Early morning in Stellenbosch

Wednesday 6 March 2019

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Stellenbosch Shul

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https://kehilalinks.jewishgen.org/stellenbosch/Home.html

https://kehilalinks.jewishgen.org/stellenbosch/Shabbat.html

Meeting Daniella Van Niekerk

Translated the Partisans’ Song into Afrikaans & presented her project on the Jewish wedding ceremony to her ed  last year.

Highlight Photos

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Who We Are

THe Partisans’ Song In AFRIKAANS
Translated by Daniella Van Niekerk
STELLENBOSCH UNIVERSITY, SOUTH AFRICA 

 

Moet nooit sêdaar wag net dood vir jou nie,

alhoewel loodswaar hemele die blou lug mag versteek,

want die uur waarna ons gehunker het, is naby;

die aarde sal bewe onder ons tree – ons is hier!

 

Van die land van palmbome, tot die vêrre land van sneeu,

sal ons kom met ons pyniging en geween,

en oral waar ons bloed in die aarde ingesyfer het,

sal ons dapperheid, ons krag, uitbloei!

 

Ons sal die môreson hê om ons dag te laat gloei,

en al ons gisters sal verdwyn saam met ons vyande.

En indien dit nog lank is voor die son weer verskyn,

laat hierdie lied soos ‘n sein voortklink deur die jare.

 

Hierdie lied is geskryf in bloed, nie lood nie.

Dit is nie ‘n lied wat somervoëls oorhoofs sing nie.

Dit was ‘n volk ter midde van brandende versperrings,

wat die lied van ons gesing het met pistole en grenate.

 

Moet nooit sêdaar wag net dood vir jou nie,

alhoewel loodswaar hemele die blou lug mag versteek,

want die uur waarna ons gehunker het, is naby;

die aarde sal bewe onder ons tree – ons is hier!

Daniella’s Tour of Stellenbosch University

The Botanical Gardens

Daniella Van Niekerk
Jewish Wedding Class – March 2018

Using resources from Eli Rabinowitz

Enacting Breaking the Glass

Comments by students

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Daniella-Comments-2

Daniella-Comments-3a

Daniella-Comments-3b

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Huge Fire At Arthur’s Road Shul

My cousin Sonia Bloch in  Cape Town sent me these photos a short time ago – feeling sad!

 

Video

 

Some history

The official signing on 28 March 1953 – Arthur’s Road, Sea Point.

On the left is my paternal grandfather, Rev. Nachum Mendel Rabinowitz and on the right my maternal grandfather, Socher Zeldin.

Chabad signing 1953

Chabaad Arthur's Road 1953

Framed photo in the shul

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Article in Maccabean Weekly newspaper, Perth, Australia 2013

Arthurs Road

Rabbi Sam Thurgood giving a lesson.

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My interview with Philip Goldman on 22 December 2013

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvcWtWv8Mng

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The shul website:

http://www.morasha.co.za

Screen Shot 2015-08-08 at 12.24.18 am

From my post in 2013:

Last week I visited the Arthur’s Road Shul in Sea Point, Cape Town, South Africa.

My previous visit was in November 2012.

Both also included research at the Kaplan Centre, UCT and the Gitlin Library at the Gardens Shul complex.

I have a personal interest in the shul as both my grandfathers, Rev. N M Rabinowitz and Socher Zeldin were present on 28 March 1953 at the signing of the documents establishing the shul in Sea Point.

Furthermore, my late cousin, Phyllis Jowell and her husband Cecil were linked with the restoration of the shul in more recent times.

The Shul Today

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From my previous posts:

The original shul was in Buitenkant Street. Documents from Kaplan Centre at UCT. Thanks to Veronica Belling.

Buitenkant St Buitenkant St Shul 3 Buitenkant St Shul

StitchSCAN0047-SCAN0049 Chabaad group photo SAJC s

StitchSCAN0063-SCAN0065

Buitenkants St Shul News

Framed photos found in the shul under the ladies’ section. Thanks Wendy Berger.

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The names of the men in this photo were found in a newspaper article on the same day  at the Kaplan Centre, UCT.

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Second framed photo found at the shul.

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The shul then moved to Virginia Ave, Vredehoek

Virginia Ave Shul Virginia Ave Shul 2

100th Anniversary Brochure – article by Philip Goldman

Arthur's Road 100 Anniv 0

Arthur's Road 100 Anniv 1

The plaque in memory of Lily Segall, mother of Bubbles and daughter of Israel Kellner.

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Vilnius 18

Google Escort into Vilnius!

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The Choral Synagogue

With the cantor  – Shmuel

Choral Synagogue, Vilnius – Wikipedia

Choral Synagogue, Vilnius – Wikipedia

The Choral Synagogue of Vilnius (Lithuanian: Vilniaus choralinė sinagoga) is the only synagogue in Vilnius that is still in use. The other synagogues were destroyed partly during World War II, when Lithuania was occupied by Nazi Germany, and partly by the Soviet authorities after the war.

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choral_Synagogue,_Vilnius

Žilvinas Beliauskas

Member Spotlight with Žilvinas Beliauskas

Source: jewishlibraries.org/blog/id/391

Vilniaus žydų viešoji biblioteka

Vilniaus žydų viešoji biblioteka

Vilniaus žydų viešoji biblioteka – vienintelė Žydų kultūros sklaidoje besispecializuojanti biblioteka visoje Lietuvoje.Our library is the only one in Lithuania which specifies in spreading Jewish culture in various forms

Source: vilnius-jewish-public-library.com/en/

With Carol Hoffman & Sandra Petrukonyte 

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Homepage – The Lost Shtetl

Homepage – The Lost Shtetl

Dingęs štetlas | The Lost shtetl    

Source: lostshtetl.com

Milda Jakulyte & Sandra Petrukonyte 

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The Great Synagogue & Shulhof excavations

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Vilnius Yiddish Institute – The first Yiddish center of higher learning to be established in post-Holocaust Eastern Europe.

Vilnius Yiddish Institute – The first Yiddish center of higher learning to be established in post-Holocaust Eastern Europe.

APPLICATION FOR YIDDISH SUMMER PROGRAM

Source: judaicvilnius.com

Vilnius University

Leyzer Ran’s book – Jerusalem of Lithuania 

The Jerusalem of Lithuania: The Story of the Jewish Community of Vilna

The Jerusalem of Lithuania: The Story of the Jewish Community of Vilna

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On the eve of the Shoah the Jewish community of Vilna was the spiritual centre of Eastern European Jewry, the centre of enlightenment and Jewish political life, of Jewish creativity and the experience of daily Jewish life, a community bursting with cultural and religious life, movements and parties, educational institutions, libraries and theatres; a community of rabbis and gifted Talmudic scholars, intellectuals, poets, authors, artists, craftspeople and educators. In the Jewish world it was known as “The Jerusalem of Lithuania” – a spiritual centre of the first order.

Source: www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/exhibitions/vilna/overview.asp

With Ruta Puisyte

Video

Stolpersteine in Vilnius

The National Library & Lara Lempert

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Focus on Judaic Documentary Heritage at the National Library on the Last Day of the Israeli Prime Minister’s Visit to Lithuania – Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania

Focus on Judaic Documentary Heritage at the National Library on the Last Day of the Israeli Prime Minister’s Visit to Lithuania – Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania

Nacionalinė kultūros įstaiga, kaupianti, organizuojanti ir sauganti rašytinį Lietuvos kultūros paveldą, formuojanti Lietuvos mokslui, švietimui, kultūrai ir ūkiui aktualių Lietuvos ir užsienio dokumentų fondą bei teikianti bibliotekinio informacinio aprūpinimo paslaugas visuomenei.

Source: www.lnb.lt/en/news/3400-focus-on-judaic-documentary-heritage-at-the-national-library-on-the-last-day-of-the-israeli-prime-minister-s-visit-to-lithuania

Lukiškės_Square

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lukiškės_Square

With Bella Swartzberg, Marlene & Robbie Baskin at the Artagonist Hotel

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With teacher, Simonas Jurktaitis 

Friday 3 August 18

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Trakai

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At the Choral Synagogue before the service

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Outside the Conti Hotel, Vilnius

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Zasliai 18

Žasliai

The Old Cemetery

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The Town

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The Train Station

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Žasliai – Wikipedia

Žasliai – Wikipedia

Žasliai (Yiddish: זאָסלע‎ Zosle) is a small town in Kaunas County in central Lithuania. In 2011 it had a population of 644.

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zasliai

Pinkas Hakehillot Lita: Zasliai

Pinkas Hakehillot Lita: Zasliai

54° 52′ / 24° 36′ Translation of the “Zasliai” chapter from  Pinkas Hakehillot Lita

Source: www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/pinkas_lita/lit_00283.html

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Ziezmariai 18

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Inside

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Notice Boards

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Ziezmariai, Lithuania

Source: kehilalinks.jewishgen.org/ziezmariai/Home.html

Ziezmariai Synagogue One of a Handful of Surviving Wooden Synagogues in Europe
Žiežmariai Synagogue One of a Handful of Surviving Wooden Synagogues in Europe
 

LRT TV News Service LRT.lt When Lithuania joined the European Route of Jewish Cultural Heritage, the synagogue in Ziezmariai was chosen as the symbolic first site.

Source: www.lzb.lt/en/2017/10/11/ziezmariai-synagogue-one-of-a-handful-of-surviving-wooden-synagogues-in-europe/

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Warsaw – After IAJGS 18

After the IAJGS conference at the Hilton Hotel, my big walk included the Nozyk, the Old Town, The Bristol Hotel, Polin Museum, Centralna Station area, and back to the Nozyk later in the day.

Around the city

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Back to the Nozyk Synagogue

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Hotel Bristol

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The Old Town

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On the way to  Polin Museum

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Polin Museum

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On the way to Centralna Train Station

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Nozyk Synagogue before Shabbat

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Around Centralna at nightime

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Goodbye – back home to Australia

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Shabbat Nachamu

Maftir and Haftorah at the Nozyk Synagogue and related stories
Back From the Polish and Litvak Diaspora

I am pleased to advise that for those of you arriving early in Warsaw for the IAJGS Conference, I will be reciting / singing my barmitzvah Maftir and Haftorah at the Nozyk Synagogue on 28 July 2018 – Shabbat Nachamu.

My barmitzvah was held on 14 August 1965 – 16 Av 5725 at the Waverley Shul, Bramley in Johannesburg, South Africa.

My good friend Phillip Levy’s barmitzvah book  – our barmitzvahs were on the same day on 14 August 1965. We didn’t know each other yet!

Books as gifts

My zaida, Rev Nachum Mendel Rabinowitz

This is a significant milestone for our family both historically and genealogically speaking. My zaida, Rev Nachum Mendel Rabinowitz, left Poland in 1905 for Jerusalem, and then in 1911 for South Africa. I have sung in shul choirs in South Africa and Australia since 1960, but this will be the first time since 1905 that the voice of one of our Rabinowitz family will be heard in a shul in Poland! My zaida, my father and my uncle were all cantors.

In 2011 in Orla, I played a recording of my zaida from Johannesburg made in 1961

Video

Nachum Mendel Rabinowitz in the Orla Synagogue

Nachum Mendel sings in Orla Synagogue, Poland

Source: youtu.be/vvXPavvJPNo

Now in 2018, I return not to play a recording, but to sing in the only synagogue in Warsaw that survived the Holocaust – a return to my roots!

My lecture at IAJGS: Back From the Polish and Litvak Diaspora: Virtual Journeys That Connect Us To Our Roots, is on Thursday 9 August at 4-5pm.

 

A repeat of my barmitzvah was held in Perth in 1992 – the invitation

 

Nozyk Synagogue 2018

Send-off from Noranda CHABAD Thursday 26 July 2018

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Cantor Jakub Lichterman

The last cantor at the Nozyk before the Holocaust

 

The visit of the Yosef Shlomo Kahaneman, the Ponevezh’s Rav to Cape Town in 1953. My zaida – Rev Nachum Mendel Rabinowitz – seated third from the left. Cantor Jakub Lichterman 2nd from the bottom right. 

Pinelands Cemetery, Cape Town

Vredehoek Shul Closing 1993

Video

Vredehoek Shul Closing

8 August 1993 Cape Town South Africa – edited speech

Source: youtu.be/RGsYvLVsSpc

Full video here (1 hour 19 mins)

https://youtu.be/37lR9uqODOk

Cape Town Kehilalink – Vredehoek Shul

Richard Shavei Tzion

Celebrating the 50th anniversary of his barmitzvah at Camps Bay Shul, Cape Town 

28 July 2018

Richard Shavei-Tzion Thanks so much Eli for posting the Sefer story. Here’s the continuation: 70 Years after its consecration and 20 years after I first came across and read from it, with HH’s permission I hope to borrow it for a Shabbat. Cheryl and I and our 3 daughters will be spending Shabbat Nachamu, 27-28/7/18 at the Camps Bay Shul, celebrating the 50th anniversary of my Barmitzvah. once again a special connection- the Sefer was installed just weeks after the founding of the State of Israel, now to be used by Jerusalem family with all the significance attached to the number 70 in Jewish tradition. All Blochs-Saevitzons-Sloans-Wienburgs invited to the Brocha after Shabbat morning service. 
Richard Shavei-Tzion
 
Richard in 1968

Audio

The Bloch Sefer Torah

The Bloch Sefer Torah

More about Aphraim and Chava and the Bloch & Cynkin Families: Source: kehilalinks.jewishgen.org/mir/Bloch_Cynkin.html The visit to Cape Town from Israel by Beverly Jacobson and her children on …

Source: elirab.me/bloch-torah/

     

With Miriam and Ivor Lichterman 2018

The Cape Town Holocaust Centre

Herzlia School 2018

Miriam and Ivor Lichterman at Highlands House 2018

With Cantors Ivor Lichterman & Joffe at Cafe Rieteve 2018

The Global Partisan Song Project 2018

Video

The Global Partisan Song Project

Every year on Yom Hashoah – the Day of Remembrance of the Holocaust and Heroism, Holocaust survivors and Jewish communities sing the song Zog Nit Keynmol (‘W…

Source: youtu.be/tnaCtuqVBgg

 
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Av Harachamim: Remembering Our Shtetls and Martyrs

Noranda CHABAD, Perth, Western Australia

July 2018

After the torah reading on shabbat, we recite Av Harachamim

Av HaRachamim

Av HaRachamim – Wikipedia

Av Harachamim or Abh Haraḥamim (אב הרחמים‬ “Father [of] mercy” or “Merciful Father”) is a Jewish memorial prayer which was written in the late eleventh or early twelfth century, after the destruction of the Ashkenazi communities around the Rhine River by Christian crusaders during the First Crusade.[1] First appearing in prayer books in 1290, it is printed in every Orthodox siddur in the European traditions of Nusach Sefarad and Nusach Ashkenaz and recited as part of the weekly Shabbat services, or in some communities on the Shabbat before Shavuot and Tisha B’Av.[2][3]

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Av_HaRachamim

in the ArtScroll 

ArtScroll – Wikipedia

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ArtScroll

in Tehillat Hashem

Tehillat Hashem – Wikipedia

Tehillat Hashem (תְּהִלַּת ה’‬, “praise of God” in Hebrew) is the name of a prayer-book (known as a siddur in Hebrew) used for Jewish services in synagogues and privately by Hasidic Jews, specifically in the Chabad-Lubavitch community. The name of the siddur is taken from Psalm 145, verse 21, “Praise of God shall my mouth speak, and all flesh shall bless His holy Name forever and ever.”

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tehillat_Hashem

A noteworthy custom fitting the mood of the Sefira period deals with the prayer Av Harachamim. Av Harachamim, recited on Shabbat after the Torah reading was written in response to the Crusades. In it we memorialize the righteous martyrs and pray for retribution for their spilled blood. Av Harachamim is generally not recited on Shabbatot which have an added celebratory nature – such as Shabbat Mevarchim (the Shabbat in which we bless the new month). In many congregations during the Shabbatot of Sefirat Haomer, Av Harachamim is recited even on the Shabbatot in which we bless Iyar and Sivan. The Mishna Brura (284,18) adds, that even if there is a Brit Milah that Shabbat, giving us a second reason why Av Harachamim should not be recited, Av Harachamim is still said, since this was the season of the tragedies.

Before reading the Av Harachamim prayer,  we select one of the 6500 shtetls that existed before and during the Holocaust from this three volume set:

We then share the story of the particular shtetl to illustrate what we lost in Holocaust!

This week – Plunge / Plungyan

 

The encyclopedia of Jewish life before and during the Holocaust / editor in chief, Shmuel Spector ; consulting editor, Geoffrey Wigoder ; foreword by Elie Wiesel – Collections Search – United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

The encyclopedia of Jewish life before and during the Holocaust / editor in chief, Shmuel Spector ; consulting editor, Geoffrey Wigoder ; foreword by Elie Wiesel – Collections Search – United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Source: collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/bib63061

With thanks to Rabbi Marcus Solomon of Dianella Mizrachi Shule for sharing this idea with me.

Thanks to Michelle Urban and the Western Australian JHGS for allowing me to use these books from their excellent library housed at Noranda CHABAD.

For more on Plunge visit the KehilaLink:

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Vilnius 2018

My annual visit to Vilnius Solomo Aleichemo ORT school

With director Misa Jakobas and teacher Teresa Segalienė

   
3D Printing  

With Hebrew teacher, Ruth

Shabbat

Yummy food in the canteen

With the student who participated in our first ORT project

Emanuelis Zingeris MP

The Jewish member of the Seimas, the Lithuanian Parliament 

Emanuelis Zingeris

Emanuelis Zingeris – Wikipedia

Emanuelis Zingeris (born 16 July 1957 in Kaunas, Lithuania) is a Lithuanian philologist, museum director, politician, signatory of the 1990 Act of the Re-Establishment of the State of Lithuania, currently serving as a Member of the Seimas (1990–2000 and since 2004), chairman of its foreign affairs committee (since 2010), Vice President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (since 2009) and President of the Parliamentary Forum of the Community of Democracies (since 2010).[1] A Lithuanian Jew, he has been director of the Vilna Gaon Jewish State Museum, honorary chairman of Lithuania’s Jewish community, and is Chairman of the International Commission for the Evaluation of the Crimes of the Nazi and Soviet Occupation Regimes in Lithuania. He is a founding signatory of the Prague Declaration on European Conscience and Communism, that proposed the establishment of the European Day of Remembrance for Victims of Stalinism and Nazism.

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emanuelis_Zingeris

Hirsh Glik

Hirsh Glik

Emanuelis Zingeris MP talks about Hirsh Glik

Source: youtu.be/QSNDsvpw1lo

Avraham Mapu

Avraham Mapu

Emanuelis Zingeris MP talks about Avraham Mapu

Source: youtu.be/r_TGbEO9lsQ

Vilna Gaon State Jewish Museum
Vilna Gaon State Jewish Museum

Samuel Bak

Source: www.jmuseum.lt/en/tolerance-center/

Samuel Bak  

   

SIGNS OF THE RUINED LITVAKS WORLD IN THE CREATIVE WORKS OF GERARDAS BADGONAVIČIUS
Jewish Life In Lithuania
Friends

With Simonas Gurevičius

With Saulius and Laura

With Arturas Taicas

  Jewish Vilnius    

The Choral Synagogue

Restoration of Geliu Synagogue progressing

From my 2017 visit:

The restoration of the Geliu synagogue Renovation of Synagogue on Geliu Gatve starts in Vilnius The Lithuanian Department of Cultural Heritage confirmed on July 21, 2015, the renovation of the syna…

Source: elirab.me/back-to-vilnius/

The Second Jewish Cemetery at Užupis

 

The first Jewish Cemetery at Šnipiškės

Jewish cemeteries of Vilnius 

Jewish cemeteries of Vilnius – Wikipedia

The Jewish cemeteries of Vinius are the three Jewish cemeteries of the Lithuanian Jews living in what is today Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, which was known to them for centuries as Vilna, the principal city of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Pale of Settlement of the Russian Empire. Two of the cemeteries were destroyed by the Soviet regime and the third is still active.

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_cemeteries_of_Vilnius

The End of the Day

 

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